Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Ji Dan Gao 鸡蛋糕 (Steamed Cake)

You can make this with the simplest ingredients that you can find in every kitchen ~ eggs, sugar, milk, self-raising flour. It's kinda amazing that no additional fat is needed. Plus, it's steamed and not baked, very healthy cake indeed... ^__^

Aunty Ann, I did it!! ^ ^ The cake is very soft and moist. Thank you for sending me the recipe. I miss your (and Agnes') cooking all the time...

Notes:# The criss-cross cut on top of the cake was made when the skewer for doneness came out clean and 2 minutes before I turned off the fire, so there wasn't much "smiling" effect to speak of.# Use of ovalette - Ovalette is an emulsifier/stabiliser commonly used in cake-making. It helps to strengthen the air bubbles in beaten eggs so that they can hold up during other steps of cake-making, eg, mixing in the flour. Other names for ovalette: sponge gel, cake emulsifier.# Double acting baking powder - "Double" means "two stages" here. Stage one, air released immediately when baking powder comes into contact with water. Stage two, more air released when baking powder is exposed to heat (steaming/baking). Only Stage one happens in regular baking powder, so you have to be quick in mixing the flour and putting the cake into the pre-heated oven/steamer. With double acting baking powder, the batter can wait another 20 minutes for the heat. "Double" doesn't mean that the cake will rise twice as much as regular baking powder. :)# Cake flour or Hong Kong flour will give this cake a softer and finer texture, use them instead if you have some in your kitchen.# When to add milk - Although the original recipe called for milk to be added after mixing the flour, I added mine before. Not sure it'll make any difference to the end product. If you know why, pls leave me a message. ^^